To the Flowers of Heidelberg

by: Jose P. Rizal

Go to my country, go, O foreign flowers,

sown by the traveler along the road,
and under that blue heaven
that watches over my loved ones,
recount the devotion
the pilgrim nurses for his native sod!

Rizal described his beloved native land by mentioning his adoration of its clear blue skies that signifies peace and good climate.
He wants the maidens to extend his message of love, longing and continuous safeguard to the native land, that his humble heart
remains faithful to the land where he grew up.

Go and say, say that when dawn

opened your chalices for the first time
beside the icy Neckar,
you saw him silent beside you,
thinking of her constant vernal clime.

It can be seen that on the second stanza that Rizal grew seeing dawn as the beginning of every single community activities that
reflects the culture of Calamba as a farming land and that harvest starts at dawn. Hence, it can also magnify the Filipino attitude
of being industrious.

Say that when dawn

which steals your aroma
was whispering playful love songs to your young
sweet petals, he, too, murmured
canticles of love in his native tongue;

Rizal also expressed his appreciation for natures indescribable beauty and inevitable allure of fresh scent that starts from the
sweet caress of dawn until sunrise. He longed for his hometown as he appreciated the beauty of the foreign land, Heidelberg.

That in the morning when the sun first traces

the topmost peak of Koenigssthul in gold
and with a mild warmth raises
to life again the valley, the glade, the forest,
he hails that sun, still in its dawning,
that in his country in full zenith blazes.

And in the morning under the soft light of the early sun he reflects still of his motherland where the same sun now is at its
highest... as if he is connected with his motherland through the sun.

And tell of that day

when he collected you along the way
among the ruins of a feudal castle,
on the banks of the Neckar, or in a forest nook.
Recount the words he said
as, with great care,
 between the pages of a worn-out book
he pressed the flexible petals that he took.

Rizal poetically describes his plan for the flowers to carry his message to his motherland. He plucks them and preserves them in
his book.

Carry, carry, O flowers,

my love to my loved ones,
peace to my country and its fecund loam,
faith to its men and virtue to its women,
health to the gracious beings
that dwell within the sacred paternal home.

Rizal through this poem articulated his unconditional love for his family, his countrymen and the nation he dreams to be.
Nevertheless, he only wished eternal peace for land, that no man shall be harmed and everyone adheres to common good. As
he wrote, he never forgot to remind the women of his land to be strong and courageous for the trials and challenges they may
face.

When you reach that shore,

deposit the kiss I gave you
on the wings of the wind above
that with the wind it may rove
and I may kiss all that I worship, honor and love!
This poem is a true reflection that Rizal in a foreign land missed his family and longs to be with them as he asked in the poem
the maidens to send his sweet kiss to those he whom he respects and loves.

But O you will arrive there, flowers,

and you will keep perhaps your vivid hues;
but far from your native heroic earth
to which you owe your life and worth,
your fragrances you will lose!
For fragrance is a spirit that never can forsake
and never forgets the sky that saw its birth.
(Here is the paradox: Rizal used the flowers of Heidelberg as his symbol of his love for his motherland. The beauty of the flowers
is comparable to the way he looks at our country that anyone who will see the flower may get in touch with Rizal's concern for
his motherland. Though noble this may seem to be, Rizal in the last stanza reflected on its utter futility since the flower will no
longer be the same when it reaches the country. Its beauty and perfume, which should reflect Rizal's intentions for the country,
will long be gone. Why? For it is far from its fatherland.)

Rizal wrote this when he was at Germany. In France and Germany, Rizal was well known and respected. But he may have
realized what good will their respect do to his country. What good will this do to the Philippines if he is serving foreign lands and
not his own. His verses had a single symbol--The flowers of Heidelberg. But it symbolizes two realities. First, the flowers' beauty
symbolizes Rizal's love for his country, and second, the flowers' reduced quality refers to Rizal's useless presence in another
country. Later he decided to return to the country despite repeated warning from his friends and relatives.
========
Poems are simply reflections of an authors feelings based on his experiences and present situation. While in Heidelberg experiencing
the feeling of nostalgia for his parents and his country, Rizal wrote the poem "To the Flowers of Heidelberg".
When Rizal soared to Heidelberg in 1886, he was fascinated with the bloom flowers he saw in the Neckar River. Those flowers
reminded him of the flowers in their homes garden in Calamba because of his mood of homesickness. His poem, To the Flowers of
Heidelberg is simply an expression of his sadness as he remembered his family whom he loves so much. In his poem, he also
described the flowers as beautiful and brilliantly attractive which lie in heaven beneath a shiny bright sky. His poem also shows that
he misses his homeland where he first saw the beauty of life and the beauty of all creation. Those flowers in Heidelberg were
resemblance of his happy and beautiful experiences and memories in his homeland where he was far a distance away. Because of
sorrow and loneliness he compensated by writing a poem about the beauty he saw on the flowers of Heidelberg.
========

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY: In this poem, Jose Rizal effectively employs natural imagery to express his longing for the Philippines. He also
wishes peace for his country and countrymen, and subsequently compares a person far from his homeland to a flower losing its
fragrance.
Written by Alvin V. Ogena; Edited by Jack Victor M. Nera

Rizal, contemplating the flowers that deck the university

town of Heidelberg in spring, was inspired to compose
the following poem exuding intense love of his native
land. Wherever he was, his thoughts always turn to his
faraway homeland, wishing "Peace to my country with
fecund soil, To her women virtue, to her men faith.

========

In 1885, the 24-year old Rizal went to Paris, France to pursue his career as an ophthalmologist. He tried his skills in music and studied
solfeggio, piano and voice culture for a month and a half. He worked as an assistant to the renowned ophthalmologist, Dr. Louis de
Weckert, and left for Heidelberg after a year. He settled in the house of a Lutheran, Karl Ulmer and worked in the clinics of famous
Polish and German ophthalmologists, Dr. Javier Galezowsky and Dr. Otto Becker, respectively. In Heidelberg, he was astound with the
flowers along the Neckar River, especially the forget-me-nots, which made him compose the poem, A Las Flores de Heidelberg (To the
Flowers of Heidelberg), on April 22, 1886. It was also in this German city where the long-distance friendship between Jose Rizal and
Ferdinand Blumentritt began.

(Here is the paradox: Rizal used the flowers of Heidelberg as his symbol of his love for his
motherland. The beauty of the flowers is comparable to the way he looks at our country that anyone
who will see the flower may get in touch with Rizal's concern for his motherland. Though noble this
may seem to be, Rizal in the last stanza reflected on its utter futility since the flower will no longer be
the same when it reaches the country. Its beauty and perfume, which should reflect Rizal's intentions
for the country, will long be gone. Why? For it is far from its fatherland.)

Rizal wrote this when he was at Germany. In France and Germany, Rizal was well known and
respected. But he may have realized what good will their respect do to his country. What good will this
do to the Philippines if he is serving foreign lands and not his own. His verses had a single symbol--
The flowers of Heidelberg. But it symbolizes two realities. First, the flowers' beauty symbolizes Rizal's
love for his country, and second, the flowers' reduced quality refers to Rizal's useless presence in
another country. Later he decided to return to the country despite repeated warning from his friends and
relatives.
Rizal described his beloved native land by mentioning his adoration of its clear blue skies that signifies peace and good climate.
He wants the maidens to extend his message of love, longing and continuous safeguard to the native land, that his humble heart
remains faithful to the land where he grew up.

It can be seen that on the second stanza that Rizal grew seeing dawn as the beginning of every single community activities that
reflects the culture of Calamba as a farming land and that harvest starts at dawn. Hence, it can also magnify the Filipino attitude
of being industrious.

Rizal also expressed his appreciation for natures indescribable beauty and inevitable allure of fresh scent that starts from the
sweet caress of dawn until sunrise. He longed for his hometown as he appreciated the beauty of the foreign land, Heidelberg.

Rizal through this poem articulated his unconditional love for his family, his countrymen and the nation he dreams to be.
Nevertheless, he only wished eternal peace for land, that no man shall be harmed and everyone adheres to common good. As
he wrote, he never forgot to remind the women of his land to be strong and courageous for the trials and challenges they may
face.

This poem is a true reflection that Rizal in a foreign land missed his family and longs to be with them as he asked in the poem
the maidens to send his sweet kiss to those he whom he respects and loves.

Looking deeper, this poem can also tell a story of travel, that during the time of Rizal, travelers like merchants, students, treasure
hunters, and people from different walks of life only travel to cross the lands by sea.

Lastly, Rizal mentioned in this poem that your fragrances you will lose! For fragrance is a spirit that never can forsake, and
never forgets the sky that saw its birth. These lines illuminated the very essence of the poem - that death cannot destroy dignity
and non omnis moriar not everything dies after death.